Streaker Midland and East Anglian Series Open at Hunts Sailing Club

Hunts Sailing Club welcomed fourteen sailors from the Streaker Class to their very friendly club. The sun was shining with the lake a tropical blue. This is a brand new venue for the class and is part of both the Streaker Midland series and East Anglian series.

The breeze was light and shifty, causing mayhem for the race team, Steve Bishop, Simon Maskell and 8 year old Jacob Bishop.

The countdown for race 1 commenced. With a minute and a half to go the breeze shifted 45 degrees to the left with the start line becoming very one-sided. The fleet huddled at the pin, there was a bit of shouting going on and half of the fleet were over the line. General recall was sounded!

Seconds later the breeze shifted back to give a true beat again. The fleet got under way on the second start...

Streaker Midland and East Anglian Series Open at Hunts Sailing Club - photo © Steve Bishop and Simon Maskell

Duncan Glen (Spinnaker SC) took the lead round the first mark with Ian Gore (Up River YC) in second and Alan Bishop (Girton SC) in third. The breeze was up and down throughout the race giving the competitors a challenging time. Duncan, keeping a cool head, held off Ian and Alan who were chasing him down. Duncan took the win.

The galley treated the sailors to ham, egg and chips for lunch with refreshments. A massive thank you goes out to Ian Moffett and Dave Clarke for volunteering to run the galley.

Races 2 and 3 were back-to-back in the afternoon.

The second race got under way with just a couple of boats OCS. Alan and Ian rounded the windward mark first. Alan sneaked away, pulling out a comfortable lead until the final lap. Ian picked up a little gust that came in on the left hand side of the beat and slipped past Alan. Ian took the win with Alan in second and Duncan in third.

Neil Firth, Ian Bradley, Robin Parsons during the Streaker Midland and East Anglian Series Open at Hunts Sailing Club - photo © Steve Bishop and Simon Maskell

Race 3 was all to play for, with Ian Gore counting a 2nd and 1st, Duncan Glen counting a 1st and 3rd and Alan Bishop counting a 3rd and 2nd.

The fleet got away cleanly and soon became spread out, with the top six boats pulling out a little lead from the rest of the chasing pack. On the second lap, Alan and Ian were heading to the windward mark, the breeze was light. A freak gust, swirling about three to four boat lengths wide, headed down the middle of the beat. Alan was almost blown over, sail flapping like mad while he was hiking out just to hold it. He quickly regained control and got under way with Ian just ahead of him.

Close racing during the Streaker Midland and East Anglian Series Open at Hunts Sailing Club - photo © Steve Bishop and Simon Maskell

Down at the leeward mark, three more boats got caught out with synchronised capsizing. All smiles and laughter afterwards from the fleet.

After racing and the boats were all packed away, cakes, tea and coffees were handed out to the sailors and prize-giving got under way. First overall was Ian Gore (Up River YC), second was Duncan Glen (Spinnaker SC) and Alan Bishop (Girton SC) was third.

Dave Borrett, Alex Gore and Ian Bradley during the Streaker Midland and East Anglian Series Open at Hunts Sailing Club - photo © Steve Bishop and Simon Maskell

Many thanks from the Streaker Class to Hunts SC and all the volunteers who contributed to making this a very well run and enjoyable day.

Overall Results:

Next up this month:

• 16 May - St Mary's Loch SC - HD Sails Scottish Series
• 16 May - WOBYC, Oulton Broad - HD Sails Southern Paddle Series and East Anglian Series
• 17 May - Beccles ASC - East Anglian Series